Local residents will join with activists today to call on Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto to support the Fracking Waste Ban Bill. Residents will distribute leaflets to market goers at the Paramus Farmers Market, asking them to call Speaker Prieto and urge him to post the bill to ban fracking waste dumping in NJ for a vote. The legislation would protect residents by banning the disposal, treatment and discharge of toxic waste created through the process of fracking, a highly controversial natural gas drilling method. The legislation recently passed through the State Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support, but the bill has not yet been posted in the Assembly for a vote.

Background: New Jersey’s wastewater treatment facilities are not designed to handle the toxins found in fracking wastewater and cannot remove all the toxics before discharging the waste into public waterways. Fracking waste is exempted from critical federal protections regulating the disposal of hazardous waste and toxic materials.